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VOL. III. RICHMOND,
The Immo
The rapidity with which books are printed is
; something marvelous. By means of the steam
and electric type setting machine and printing
press books are turned out at the rate of fifty
thousand, annually. But it is equally notable
that the best of them will not bear readme more
than the second or third time, when they are
laid aside and eventually forgotten. Each succeeding
age, says De Quincey, buries its own
literature.
And yet notwithstanding this apparent disrelish
for the old book and transcient desire for
the new one, the Bible abides, and continues with
increasing popular interest. It is distinguished
by immortality. And why? Surely, there is
some extraordinary reason for this. ^ ^ +
In a work on English literature of the
eighteenth century the author says that ^
three things are essential to give a book
immortality: Vision of eternal truths;
adaptability to man's eternal needs, and
conformity to permanent principles. j
VISION OP ETERNAL TRUTHS. &
The Bible is a vision of eternal truth. A A)
By eternal truth is meant those truths & * r
which are divinely original, from ever- > j,
lastng and not subject to change, per- &
petual and without intermission. The yh
vision of the trinal unity of God, of ?*
the Incarnation of human rcdprnntinn A W
of the kingdom of God, and of the ?? ^
resurrection of the body, afforded by y ^
the Bible, are truths which the human
mind, unassisted by revelation, could \Y
never have discovered. Plato and
Descartes and Bacon originated no new ^
truths. They simply interpreted the
natural ideas and truths embodied in ^
their mental and moral constitution V
which is "the handiwork of God." It Of
is the prerogative of God, solely, to
create and reveal new truths. Man is ^
simply an interpreter of the truths of X
God in his own constitution and in the t n
^ v_,u
world of nature; and the truths embalrned
in the Bible originated with the 1. He
I
Ancient of Days and came from God ^ ^
by especial revelation, else man had rpQ
never known them. JL
In contrast with the querulous utterances
and poetic hyperboles which con- ++++++++*
vey partial and false ideas of the soul,
as being "such stuff as dreams are made of,"
1 and, of life, as being "rounded with a sleep."
?think of the ideas and truths which hang like
f V) a constellation in the firmament of the Bible.
N > ~J Under this awe-inspiring vision the portion of
the soul's existence, in which its felicity or misery
for all eternity becomes a settled fact, and
life, instead of being "a dream, a bubble, a
Rhadow," assumes enormous proportions and relationships,
realities and responsibilities. This
, NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, DECE\
rtality Of
Bu Ret). R. L. Benn.
life is not linaJ. The powers of the soul are
hampered by the weakness of its tieshy instrument;
its purposes and aspirations are restrained
by the body it inhabits and the world in which
it strives to express itself; its potential aims and
ideals are but partially realized here. The Bible
pushes back the horizon and gives it a vision of
certain immortality, of complete redemption
from sin, of the resurrection of the body from
the grave, and, of the eternal felicities of heaven.
These truths never change. Revealed truth is
is immortal. It can never perish. The produc?tje
IBible.
^sterious Book! outliving age and time,
And standing still, foursquare to all the world,
ke fortress vast, impervious and sublime.
Withstanding all assaults against it hurl'd
' e cairn amid the storm, it came to stay,
itil the fires of the Judgment Day.
waling Book! alone in it we trace
[low life began upon this globe of Ola's,
ows God?not Science, creator of the race.
When man deriv'd his high and godlike powers,
ithout simian process, but as a stroke,
in rose in fullness when his Maker spoke.
rpassing volume, whose prophets, priests and ki
Are seen in action on its wondrous stage,
here poet, greater e'en than Ilomer sings,
And lends enchantment to its sacred page,
here worlds unseen are open to our view,
id songs, celestial, sung by angels, too.
storing Book! sole hope of fal'n man,
In it reveal'd contains the wondrous scheme
his redemption before the world began,
Nor this alone, the key to ev'ry theme,
at staggers Science, life beyond the grave,
liich souls immortal e'er by nature crave.
M . n i- i- -? i i ? '
usuiuig jDooK, wnere sore ana dtok n nearts
With whom the world and life have gone amiss
;re solaces find, and refuge from the darts
Of fortune hard, anticipated bliss
n sweeten death, destroy its dreadful look
all who lean in that dark hour upon this Book.
Duval Porter.
tions of such human geniuses as Milton and
Shakespeare, Browning and Tennyson, are as
tonishing, indeed. But where will these be a
million vpars from tndnv? "Who will ronrl the
play of "Hamlet," the epic of "Paradise Lost,"
the drama of the "King and the Book." the
"Idyls of the King," marvelous as they are, in
the eternal years of God? They occupy a deserved
place and discharge a noble function, but
they are mortal still, and every part of them,
WESTERNPRESRYTFPIAfj'
?al Presbyterian jt
thern Presbyter/a n
1EER 6, 1911. NO. 49.
The Bible
and of all similar achievements, except that
which relates to the salvation of the soul and
I lie kingdom of God, will pass away, like?
"The cloud capped towel's, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, shall
dissolve, ij
And leave not a rock behind."
But the truths of the Bible live and abide
forever, and are the immortal seeds of eternal
life. They live in, and shine forth in the character
of the saints throughout eternity.
man's eternal needs. .<
By man's eternal needs is meant his moral
, ^ ^ 4 needs. What are these ? Are the truths ;
Bible adapted to them? The
t mind wants reliable guilding and acJL
eessible truth; the heart wants a perfeet
changeless love; the will wants
X commandments which have an au- "i
X. thoritative ring in their very utteranee
and which serve as an infallible
guide; the moral nature wants that
& which will free conscience from guilt,
purge it from dead works, deliver it
from retributive fears and quicken its
hopes. Te soul wants a light which
will shine through all conditions of
<* life and burn with increasing bril >
liance when all other lights are going; 1
?? gone out. These needs are eternal
and imperative and the eternal truths
of the Bible are adapted to them. By
<? faith in Christ, the atoning Lamb of
?* God, a new life begins in the soul,
guilt is removed, a peace which passeth
all understanding possesses the soul,
aud a hope which is full of immortality
irradiates its gloomy chambers. This
^ is a fact of experience. . \
X A poor ignorant man who was talkX
ing of heaven was asked by a college
X professor how he knew there was such
X^ a place. 'AYhy," he replied, "because
^ 1 have such a hankering for it." A
sceptic who was near his end said to
X. a minister: "It may be a confession
t #
JL of the weakness of my position, but I
must admit that every crusade against
W*V?% unristianity lias failed, in not meeting
the moral wants of man." This is an
honest confession. For without similarity of
feeling with God salvation is a natural impossibility.
The eternal truths of the Bible; its supernatural
Redeemer, its regenerating and sanctifying
Spirit, alone, meet man's eternal needs by
providing similarity of feeling with God which
is eternal salvation.
PERMANENT AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
The love of the beautiful is inherent in the
constitution of humanity. The art and sculp